PC Hardware A Beginner’s Guide

BIOS Startup Screen

If the POST completes successfully, the BIOS loads the video adapter’s BIOS, which

makes the PC display available. The BIOS then displays its startup screen (see Figure 6-3).

This display, which varies slightly from one manufacturer to the next, generally contains

the following information:

 The name, and possibly the logo, of the manufacturer or supplier of the BIOS,

the serial and version numbers of the BIOS, and its release or version date,

which is the key indicator of the feature set included in the BIOS version.

 The BIOS’ serial number, which indicates the motherboard, chipset, and BIOS

version combination the BIOS was designed to support. The serial number is

Chapter 6: The BIOS and the Boot Process^115

Beep Codes Meaning

1-1-3 CMOS memory error

1-1-4 BIOS failed

1-2-1 System timer error

1-2-2 Motherboard error

1-2-3 Motherboard error

1-3-1 Motherboard error

1-4-1 Motherboard error

1-4-2 Memory error

2-_ Memory failure (2 beeps, followed by any beep

combinations)

3-1-_ Chipset error (3 beeps, followed by 1 beep, followed

by any beep combination)

3-2-4 Keyboard controller error

3-3-4 Video adapter failure

4-2-4 Expansion card failure

4-3-4 Time of day clock failure

4-4-1 Serial port error

4-4-2 Parallel port error

4-4-3 Math coprocessor error

Table 6-4. Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes